Ullock Pike to Dodd – Sunday 27th September 2020.
Reg 2E0LDF very kindly agreed to do Ullock Pike LDW-098, Long Side LDW-070, Carl Side LDW-064 and Dodd LDW-174 / HLD-015 for HEMA with me. We met up in a small car park near Ravenstone Hotel. We started walking at 0946 hrs local and we arrived on the summit of Ullock Pike LDW-098 at 11:17 hrs. The walk up was fairly steep in places but it was a good steady walk. As you climbed higher the views onto Bassenthwaite and the fells opposite were very impressive.
The weather was excellent and it soon became quite warm. We were doing comparisons with different aerials on the summit. I was using a simple j-pole aerial like the one I use at home and this was attached to a roach pole at about 20 foot.
12 contacts were made from the summit and these were as follows:-
M7XUP/P S2S as he was on Castle Crag LDW-214
G1OAE
2E0MIX
2E0IKM
GM1VLA
G0UQC
2E0CSS
G7CDA
G6LKB
G1OHH
MI0VBH
MM7MMW/P ON GM/SS-152
We operated from 1117hrs till 1153 hrs.
The views were superb and the walking conditions were perfect. Very often when I go walking the weather is not great as was pointed out by some!!!
The walk along the ridge to Long Side LDW-070 only took about 15 mins.
14 contacts were made from here. We operated from 1209hrs to 1236hrs (local).These were as follows:-
GM3YTS/P ON GM/CS-038
M0DXT
G1OAE
G7CDA
2E0IKM
2E0CSS
GM1VLA
G6LKB
G0WFH
G4ZRP
2E0MIX/M
G0TDM
G1OHH
2E0HQS/P ON LD-007
While we were operating we saw the Air Ambulance helicopter land on Carl Side.
There were lots of people about and that was on all the summits. Skiddaw and Skiddaw Little Man both looked very busy.
The walk to Carl Side LDW-064 again only took 20 mins or so. I lost 3 sections inside my roach pole so it was only about 10 foot up which was a pity but it still performed reasonably well. We made the most contacts from here and that was 19. We operated from here from 13:01 hrs to about 13:35 hrs local.
The contacts made were as follows:-
GM4JIB/P ON White Coombe GM/SS-030
M0DXT
2E0IKM
2E0XYL/M
2E0MIX
G4ZRP
G7CDA
G6LKB
G1OAE
G1OHH
G1PIE
2W0FNA/M
M0NOM
M0AYB
GD0BFN
G8CPZ
M7XUP
2I0JHH
GM1VLA
We then descended down and caught up with Keswick Mountain Rescue who were carrying someone on a stretcher. It did not look good sadly.
It is quite rough the decent down but going up to the summit of Dodd LDW-174 / HLD-015 was quite easy. It took us about 1 hour from the summit of Carl Side to the summit of Dodd.
Dodd being a lot lower we only got 7 contacts but it was still good. About 5 minutes from the summit I heard Mark M0NOM/P on Cunswick Scar LDO-110 and we exchanged 51 reports. I made contact again on the summit for a S2S . I was just using my white stick and we exchanged 51 51 reports.
I sorted out my roach pole on Dodd and again I had it up at about 20 feet. The contacts were as follows:-
M0NOM/P S2S as he was on Cunswick Scar LDO-110
G7CDA
2E0MIX
G1OHH
G1OAE
2E0IKM/P S2S to Sale Fell LDW-208
GM1VLA
The aerial comparsions were very interesting as on receive there was little difference between Reg and myself but when I had the roach pole up at about 20 feet most of the reports from stations were better to me than Reg. Most of the time it was about 2 s-points. A lot of the stations reports were 59 + 60 although we did get a 59 +100 off Tony!!!
Mike made us hungry as he was eating chocolate cake and Derek was going to be having Beef Stew! I made do with coffee and Mars Bars!
The day was absolutely superb and many thanks to all the chasers and the S2S we got. Many thanks to Reg for going with me. We had good crack all the way through the walk and it was a great pleasure to have his company.
The radio I used was a Yaesu FT-60 which was on continuously from when I left the car at 09:46 till we got back to the car at about 1615hrs. Only the one battery used but the voltage was down to 6.6 volts.
The weather was superb and the views cracking. 52 contacts were made in total. Many thanks to all the chasers and the S2S as well. Many thanks to Reg 2E0LDF for his superb company.
I have attached a few photos and although i reduced the size on my computer the photos looked fine but on discourse they look like very low res photos. Will have a look another day.
73’s Geoff GM4WHA